This paper uses interviews with health professionals from the Integrating Abortion study to examine and extend the sociological concept of ‘body work’ i.e. work which takes place on the bodies of others. It explores what was actually involved in providing abortion in the UK in the 2010s, the ‘emotional labour’ that providers engage in; how time factors in provision; and questions of bodily proximity and co-presence in relation to developments in provision. The paper has particular relevance regarding the shift toward home self-management of abortion.
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#abortion providers #bodily proximity #body work #emotional labour #health professionals #home self-management #primary analysis #Scottish Studies #self-managed abortion